Warning this text reveals photos of a capturing
The CCTV photos present males in military fatigues capturing useless a volunteer wearing medical scrubs at point-blank vary whereas a crowd of different terrified well being employees are held at gunpoint with their fingers within the air.
The primarily Druze metropolis of Sweida was the scene of almost per week of violent clashes, looting and executions final month which plunged the brand new authorities into their worst disaster because the toppling of the nation’s former dictator Bashar al Assad.
The brand new Syrian authorities troops have been accused of partaking within the atrocities they have been despatched in to quell between the Druze minority and the Arab Bedouin minority teams.
The federal government troops have been pressured to withdraw when Israeli jets entered the fray, saying they have been defending the Druze minority and bombed military targets in Sweida and the capital Damascus.
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Males in navy fatigues enter the hospital.
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The hospital volunteer is seen on the ground moments earlier than he was shot
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A second man fires with a handgun
Days of bloodletting ensued, with a number of Arab tribes, Druze militia and armed gangs participating in pitched battles and looting earlier than a ceasefire was agreed.
The federal government troops then arrange checkpoints and barricades encircling Sweida to forestall the Arab tribes re-entering.
The extrajudicial killing captured on CCTV contained in the Sweida hospital is corroborated by eyewitnesses we spoke to who have been among the many group, in addition to different medics within the hospital and quite a few survivors and sufferers.
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Physique luggage within the grounds of hospital
The CCTV is date- and time-stamped as mid-afternoon on 16 July and the totally different digicam angles present the lads (who inform the hospital employees they’re authorities troops) marauding by the hospital; and in not less than one case, smashing the CCTV cameras with the butt of a rifle.
One of many nurses current, who requested anonymity, advised us: “They told us if we talked about the shooting or showed any film, we’d be killed too. I thought I was going to die.”
Dr Obeida Abu Fakher, a physician who was within the working part on the time, advised us: “They told us they were the new Syrian army and interior police. We cannot have peace with these people. They are terrorists.”
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A destroyed ambulance in Sweida
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A number of sufferers and survivors advised us after we visited the hospital final month that authorities troops had participated within the horror which swept by Sweida for days however that is the primary visible proof that some took half in atrocities inside the primary hospital.
In different photos, one of many males could be seen smashing the CCTV digicam with the butt of his rifle – and one other is carrying a black sweater which seems to be the uniform related to the nation’s inside safety.
One survivor calling himself Mustafa Sehnawi, an American citizen from New Jersey, advised us: “It’s the government who sent those troops, it’s the government of Syria who killed those people… we need help.”
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Mustafa Sehnawi speaks to Sky’s Alex Crawford
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A destroyed tank in Sweida
The federal government responded with an announcement from the inside ministry saying they’d be investigating the incident which they “denounced and condemned” within the strongest phrases.
The assertion went on to vow all these concerned could be “held accountable” and punished.
The brand new Syrian president Ahmed al Sharaa is because of attend the United Nations Common Meeting subsequent month in New York – the primary time a Syrian chief has attended since 1967 – and what occurred in Sweida is definite to be among the many pressing matters of debate.
